When Microsoft releases a new version of Windows for everyone to try out, there's a right way and time consuming way to test the waters. Nowadays you
don't need a spare computer for this, virtualization takes care of everything.
Any recent CPU should support Virtualization; meaning another virtual OS can be
run within Windows 7 as you would a program or Remote Desktop Connect. Normally
we'd turn to 'Windows Virtual PC', but for the love of Kafka...
Windows' own Virtualization client is incompatible with newer Windows operating systems. Oh
MSFT...

Oracle comes to the rescue with virtualization software that
works, so we downloaded 'VirtualBox 4.1.8' (virtualbox.org) and
installed it. To install a new version of Windows you'll need the Windows ISO file, ~20GB free drive space and minimum 2GB RAM in your PC as half the RAM
will be allocated to the Virtualized OS when running. First, download the Windows .ISO from Microsoft...

Install VirtualBox and launch the program. Create a new Vitual
Machine named "NewWin", then set the memory to '1024MB' and 'Create new hard
disk', choose 'VDI (virtualbox disk image' that is 'Dynamically Allocated'. The
default setting of '20GB' should be sufficient drive space.

The easiest way to install a new version of Windows onto your Virtual system is directly
from the .ISO Microsoft lets you download (there's no need to burn it to DVD-R).
In Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, right click on the NewWinP virtual system you
just created > Settings > Storage > under the heading IDE Controller
click on 'Empty' > click on the little CD icon by 'Attributes' > 'Choose a
virtual CD/DVD file..." > navigate to where you stored the .iso file and open
that file. Finally, click 'Ok'.

Now, back in the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager go to > System >
processor > extended Features and check 'Enable PAE/NX'... and that's it!

To start, right click on NewWin > Start. If you get Error 0x0000260, it
means your processor doesn't support 'Physical Address Extension with No Execute
bit enabled (PAE-NX)' and none of this will work for you, unfortunately.
Otherwise, the NewWin installation should proceed as normal. The first time
starting up will require about 2-3 automatic reboots of the virtual PC. After
this you'll need to log in with your Hotmail details.

Once the new version of Windows boots to the desktop you'll be presented with
the totally new user interface; it will take a bit of learning to get
used to it. Navigation is very difficult and I guarantee you will get so bloody
frustrated with the new UI you'll want to toss the PC out the window. Pun
intended.

If you get lost in escape-less app screens, 'Ctrl-alt-Del' will bring up Task
Manager and a way out. To do this, from the VirtualBox Window > go to Machine
> Insert "CTRL-alt-Del".